The Beginning of the End
by Ormandria
Summary: When Danny witnesses the death of his family and friends, he makes a fateful decision that will bring him to the first steps on his journey from hero to villain. COMPLETED!
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Danny Phantom, nor any of the characters there-in. I do not own rights to the "Ultimate Enemy" Story, nor any other story line used in the show._

_I started writing this after watching The Ultimate Enemy a few times and realizing that the events were given in the most basic terms. So I began to wonder how a more flushed out version of the events might have played out. Here is what I came up with. The basics that were in the show are still in this story. It is, as I stated, simply an idea of a more detailed account of what happened that led Danny down the path to the "Dark" side._

The Beginning of the End

Prologue: How it happened ...

Danny stared in shock at the crumbly ruin that had, a few moments before, been the Nasty Burger. True, it had been mostly destroyed in the earlier battles with Lunch Box and Skultech 9.9, but this was different. This was a total annihilation of the building. As well as the total annihilation of his friends and family. Danny fell to his knees, shaking in disbelief and shock. They shouldn't have been there. Not even Mr. Lancer should have been there, and yet they had been. Worse yet, the teen-ager knew that it was all his fault.

Sirens bleared in the background and for the briefest of moments, Danny thought he heard a strange hideous cackle at the edge of his hearing. His breath had turned cold for a moment, before going back to normal. The ghost? Most likely. He didn't care though. All he could think about was his family and his friends, who wouldn't be coming back.

A tiny voice in the back of his head screamed at him.

_'He's getting away! Stop him! He killed your family! He killed Sam and he killed Tucker too!' _

However, as much as part of Danny wanted to listen to that voice, to go ghost and hunt down the ghost that had done this horrible thing, he just couldn't get his body to respond. Numbness was all that filled his limbs and senses as he continued to stare into the blazing fire before him.

At some point, someone had lifted him from the ground, put a blanket around him and hauled him in an ambulance to go to the hospital. What happened after that might as well have been a dream for all the good it did Danny. When the dawn would break the next morning, through the curtain of the hospital room, all Danny Fenton would remember was that for the first time in his life, he was truly alone. Even Valerie, who had rushed first to the Nasty Burger and later to the hospital when she heard the news, could do nothing but hold him against his will as he wailed and screamed in torturous pain.

For fifteen-year-old Danny Fenton, the world had indeed ended over a few simple stolen test answers.


	2. Chapter 1

The house stood dark and daunting before him. It had been over a week since he had last set foot inside of it. Most of that time had been spent at the hospital for what they claimed was observation, but Danny knew better. They had put him on suicide watch. No one knew what he might do since his family and two best friends had been killed right before his eyes. The last two days had been spent sleeping on Valerie's couch. She had offered to make this first trip back to his empty house with him, but he had refused. He had wanted to do it on his own. Now that he was standing in front of it though, he severely wished he had taken her up on that offer.

_'Too late now,'_ he thought as he swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and slowly ascended the stairs. His black hair blow into his eyes and reminded him of all the times his mom had brushed it away from his face as a child, and the tears he had fought so hard against, welled up once more, sliding down his cheeks in fat lumps.

Damn it! Why had he kept those answers? If only he hadn't been so stupid... If only Lancer hadn't decided he had cheated and called his parents to meet at The Nasty Burger... If only... Danny shock his head to try to regain some control. He wiped the tears away. They did no good now. It was simply better to try not to think of such things as "if onlys." Gingerly he reached out and turned the door handle. Sure enough it turned and creaked open. Jazz must have left the house in a bigger hurry then he originally thought.

Steeling himself against a new wave of tears, Danny entered the darkened abode of his now deceased parents. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as if he expected something to come of it. When nothing happened, he breathed a slight sigh of relief at the realization that no ghosts were currently in residence. They were the last things he needed to deal with right now. He had come home for a reason and he couldn't afford to be distracted by needless battles with entities he no longer had any interest in dealing with.

There was only one ghost he ever wanted to fight again, and that was the ghost that had killed the people closest to him. Unfortunately, Danny knew it wouldn't be so easy. He didn't even know who the ghost was. Everything around him had fallen apart so suddenly that he hadn't exactly been up to trying to track him down yet either.

Heck, Danny hadn't even been able to bring himself to talk to either Tucker or Sam's parents about what had happened. He was positive that Sam's parent's most likely blamed him too, and the idea of facing Tuck's parents just sent waves of nausea through him.

Thus it was that Valerie had been the only person he had talked to and he hadn't even told her everything. She had no idea why Lancer, Sam, Tucker and his family had been there. It was enough that she knew it was them. She had been there as they had carted the bodies out of the wreckage. Apparently the human body is tough enough to survive an explosion at close range enough to remain identifiable. Of course it helps when those bodies had been blown to pieces, with large chunks, like say a head, landing 50 yards or more away. He shivered at the memory.

Somehow the knowledge that Valerie had been there to see them carried away eased Danny's mind somewhat. If anything, it meant that he was not the only person that had been totally mortified and scarred by what had happened. Someone else had been traumatized too. Although he had to admit to himself that Valerie did a much better job of hiding it. He wondered if she was doing that for him and then cursed himself mentally for having such a selfish thought. Of course Valerie would have her own reasons for not wanting to show her feelings. He had heard her up late tossing and turning in her sleep, as he sat up unable to think or feel. He could only guess that she was reliving the grotesque scene that had played out before her own eyes.

Sleep no longer came easily to Danny. His own dreams were nightmares filled with the screams of loved ones and a dark looming figure of a ghost, flying away and laughing viciously all the damage that had been wrought. What Danny failed to understand, even now, was why he had been spared. The ghost had had the perfect chance to kill him, but instead had merely smiled at him with an evil grin that the teen-ager couldn't quite push out of his head. In fact, it had gotten to Danny so much, that it was the only aspect of the ghost that he could remember clearly.

Danny turned to the wall and flicked the light switch into the on position in the slight hope that it would make the house seem warmer and fuller then it did in the dark. All it did though, was emphasize the emptiness, so he quickly turned the light back off and headed back upstairs. He ignored the signs of a family life interrupted; projects that had been left unfinished, Jack Fenton action toys and figures that littered the living room coffee table and some new ghost catching invention that had still been in the testing phase, but now lay forgotten on the couch.

He knew why he was here, and it had nothing to do with those small things. It was to pack his meager belongings and leave again. This time permanently. Sure, the utilities were all on now, but that wouldn't last for long, with no one to pay the bills. Seeing as it was highly unlikely that anyone would be willing to hire a fifteen-year-old that hadn't finished high school and was on the verge of becoming unhinged, he couldn't exactly afford to stay.

Valerie's dad had been kind enough to offer Danny the couch in their tiny apartment. It wasn't much, but it would do for now, until Danny could figure something else out. He wasn't keen on the idea of going to live with his aunt, and he had no where else to turn to at the moment. Making his way upstairs out of sheer force of habit, Danny paused momentarily outside of Jazz's room.

It was killing him. He knew why his parents had been at the Nasty Burger, as well as why Lancer had been there, but why Jazz? Or Sam and Tucker even? Why had they been there? Danny opened the door and stared in. Her computer sat on her desk, a composite screen saver of Stanford/Harvard and Yale still running across the screen. The desk overflowed with the books and worksheets she had been using to study for the C.A.T's. His heart beat fast against is chest as for he thought about Jazz sitting there and how she would have yelled at him to get out and stop bugging her. It was too much and Danny quickly left, going straight to his room. He pulled a few suitcases and bags from his closet and began throwing his clothes into them haphazardly. He suddenly wanted to be as far away from this place.

When he was done, he grabbed the luggage and hurried back down the stairs. His foot the edge of the rug, tripping the fifteen-year-old and causing him to flip head over heels down the steep stairs. As he began to fall instinct took over and for the first time since before the incident that Danny turned into a ghost. His body fell almost gracefully through the floor and down to the lab below. Stopping in mid-air he stared at the Fenton Portal before him. Green eyes turning back to blue, Danny solidified as he touched the ground. He wasn't sure how much time he spent staring at the now lifeless portal before him, the luggage that had been in hand mere seconds before now lay forgotten on the floor beside him.

All the emotions he had been feeling in the last week finally boiled over into a sense of pure rage. This thing, this machine was to blame. It had caused all of this. From the first moment he had stepped into it, his life had been plagued by ghosts of one sort or another. It had been fun at first, but that was before anyone had died. That was before he had witnessed that ghost murdering his family. The memory of it flashed through his head yet again, the dark, hulking figure, that hideous smile and something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. That something began to nag at the back of his mind, but he ignored it as his rage reached its peek.

Without so much as another thought, Danny overturned one of his father's work benches. He picked up inventions, one after another and throw them around the room. Screaming in agony he ran up to the Fenton Ghost Portal and began to hammer on it with his bare hands until they began to bleed.

"_Give them back!_" he screamed at the large door. "_Give them back to me!_ Give... them... back..." Hot tears streaked down his face. Danny no longer had the energy to stop them, and instead slide to the floor in a stupor.

"Danny?" came a shaky voice from behind him. He turned to see Valerie standing at the bottom of the stairs, her hands clutched in front of her chest and her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "I... I got worried, so I thought I should come by and see how you were doing..."

"Their gone," he breathed as he turned away from her. "Their gone and they won't come back."

Valerie ran up to Danny to try to comfort him. "I'm sorry, Danny. It will get better, I know it will! You just have to give it time."

"Time?" he asked incredulously as he pushed Valerie away. "What do you know about it? _Have you ever had a ghost take away everything that was important to you?_"

Danny saw the hurt look in Valerie's eyes and suddenly remembered that she had. He was the reason Valerie and her parents lived in such a small, cramped apartment. He had managed, albeit by accident, to take away everything that had mattered to Valerie at one time by destroying her father's security business. When it came down to it, wasn't Valerie just another victim of Danny's ghost hunting obsession?

Part of Danny wanted to apologize to her for the remark, to say he hadn't meant it. The other part wouldn't hear of it though. What did he care that her family lived in a small run-down apartment. At least she still had her family with her. He had nothing. No family, no home, no friends.

"It was Danny Phantom," Valerie spit out under her breath as she turned her head to try to hide her own tears from Danny. "This is all his fault."

"What are you going on about now?" Danny snapped. He was starting to get confused and that was making him even angrier than he already was.

Valerie looked a bit worried that he had heard her.

"Nothing," she replied, shaking her head. "It was nothing, really."

"Valerie...," Danny warned as he stood up, clenching his bloodied and broken fists by his side and gritting his teeth. He could almost taste the fear that emanated from Valerie. He could see that she was struggling with the thought of telling him, or letting him continue yelling at her. Finally, she looked up at him and sighed in defeat.

"I wasn't suppose to tell you in case you got it into your head to do something stupid. What with your parents having been ghost hunters and all."

"What weren't you suppose to tell me?"

"Danny, you have to understand. No one knows better then I do about wanting to get revenge against ghosts, but you can have to promise not to do anything stupid."

"What weren't you suppose to tell me?" Danny repeated slowly, as he tried to reign in his temper. It was taking all of his energy to not blast a hole in the wall out of sheer frustration and anger.

Valerie looked like she was about to say something else and stopped. Bowing her head she gave in.

"They know who killed your family Danny. Who killed Sam and Tucker and even Lancer."

Danny suddenly felt numb again. If they knew which ghost had done this, then he could go after it, couldn't he? The ghost that had been haunting what little dreams he had. He could fight it and destroy it, just has it had destroyed the people he loved. Maybe then he could stop feeling so guilty and finally put this whole nightmare behind him. Eyes narrowed he looked back at Valerie once again.

"Who?" It was the only word that would come out of his mouth.

"Danny Phantom," was the reply.


	3. Chapter 2

Danny's fists loosened as he stared at Valerie in shock.

"That's ... that's ... No, it's not possible. You're wrong!" But even as the words rushed from his mouth the nagging feeling from earlier came back ten-fold. A figure, dressed in a white and black hazmat suit, white flowing hair and glowing green eyes. Older, true, but possible nonetheless. After all, Lunch Box and Skultech had come from the future, hadn't they? And then there was the biggest sign. The one he had tried desperately to ignore, and that was the great D/P symbol on the ghost's chest. The realization sent shivers down his spine. The mysterious face coalescing around that nightmarish smile. The smile that reminded him eerily of Vlad….

"It was him all right," Valerie said in disgust. "People saw him flying away, laughing. I knew he wasn't the greatest ghost in the world, but even I didn't expect that from him."

Danny began to laugh uncontrollably. It wasn't a happy laugh, or even an insane laugh. It was the same type of nervous laugh that Jazz had developed over the last few months of her life. The same laugh that had made Danny think that Jazz might be studying a bit too hard and becoming unhinged herself. He could see it all in his mind's eye as Valerie stared at him in surprise.

_'Vlad,'_ Danny thought to himself. He had forgotten all about Vlad. Maybe Danny wasn't so alone after all. Wasn't Vlad Master's also half-ghost? Hadn't he been in love with Maddie Fenton? Yes, it was a psychotic, obsessive love, but it was still love. He had even offered twice to raise Danny as if he were his own son. Would that offer still stand in the face of everything that had happened? There was only one way to find out.

Danny reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a small set of keys that had a much smaller version of the Jack Fenton action figure as the key chain. Danny pressed the belly of the figure and watched the eyes light up and a fist rise in a mock punching action. It had been a gift from his dad years ago. Jazz had been given one as well, though she had never actually used hers. They both had thought the keychains dumb at the time, but now….

The teen-ager heaved a heavy sigh as he tossed the keys, keychain and all, straight at Valerie's chest. She caught them in mid-air and simply stared at Danny stunned and confused.

"What's this for?" she asked her friend. Danny looked away to hide his face.

"Keys to the place. You're going to need them if you're going to continue to fight ghosts. They come out of the Fenton portal a lot and it's best that you keep an eye on it. Also, there's a lot of other things here that will help you." He paused momentarily to pick up the Fenton thermos that had rolled to his feet.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Valerie reacted without thinking.

"Give it up Val. I know all about your ghost-hunting," Danny continued as he ran his fingers over the very first weapon, other then brut force, that he had ever used against ghosts. "I'll say this for my folks. As crazy as they acted sometimes, and as bad as they were at actually catching ghosts, they were really great at inventing things that worked."

"That will hold ghosts until you get a chance to put them back into the Ghost Zone." Danny tossed the Fenton thermos at her. "And believe me, you'll need all of them if you hope to keep those ghosts under control."

"Danny, I don't understand. What are saying? Your parents are the ones that created this stuff. Don't you think it should be you that uses it? I mean, I saw you when all the adults were kidnapped. You're not such a lame ghost-hunter yourself."

"Not anymore," he sighed. He was trembling again. "I can't fight them anymore. I … I have to leave. I can't stay here any longer"

"I know. That's why you're staying with my folks and I."

"No," Dan shook his head emphatically and finally looked Valerie in the eyes. "I'm leaving Amity Park. I don't belong here anymore. I don't deserve to live here anymore."

"That's not true Danny. You deserve …." The look on Danny's face stopped Valerie mid-sentence. There was no emotion in his face. His eyes were dead. It was the same look he had had the night his family and friends had died.

"I killed them," he stated.

"What are you talking about Fenton?" Valerie was starting to sound angry herself. "I told you that it was _Danny Phantom_ that killed everyone!"

"It's all the same," he replied. "Danny Phantom, Danny Fenton. Honestly, I'm surprised you of all people never noticed."

It was Valerie's turn to laugh nervously at this as her mind began to reach the conclusion of what it was he was saying. "Danny, I …."

"I'm sorry I never told you Val. But what with you hating both of us at first it didn't matter. Then later hating Danny Phantom, but becoming friends with Danny Fenton, I just didn't know how." Danny's hand began to glow, as well as his mid-section. Valerie watched as a circle of light developed around him and split in two, half traveling upward and the other half, downward. After the light disappeared above and below him, Danny Phantom stood rooted to the place where Danny Fenton had previously been.

Valerie, ready to rush at him in righteous anger, stopped mid-stride. The same haunted look from before was still on his face.

"You're …"

Danny could see the horror on Valerie's face at this sudden, new knowledge. He could hear her heart beat quicken and her body began to shake slightly. Whatever Valerie had tried to say had become stuck in her throat, so Danny used that as a silent signal to leave.

"I'm sorry Valerie. Goodbye." He quickly grabbed his discarded luggage and flew out of the room without another word.

Valerie watched him fly out, her emotions fighting with each other. So overwhelmed was she that she fell to her knees. The ghost that had ruined her life, that she had made it her mission to destroy, was the same kid she had become such good friends with. The kid she had wanted to protect when his world had come crashing down around his own ears. That wasn't the worst of it though. Witnesses had seen Danny Phantom fleeing the scene of the murder, but hadn't Danny Fenton still been there? It was all too confusing for Valerie to handle.

There was only one thing she was positive of at this moment in time. No matter how much Danny may blame himself for what happened, she had seen the look in his eyes and she knew that there was no way that Danny Fenton, ghost or not, could have killed the very people he loved most in all the world.

"Oh, Danny," she whispered to the empty lab as tears streaked down her face, the Fenton thermos clutched tightly against her chest. "Danny …."

* * *

Danny flew high in the sky for a good hour before he finally stopped to rest. Sitting on the top of a farm house he tried to clear his mind to think. Something he hadn't actually done. He couldn't fly all the way to Wisconsin carrying his luggage. It would take him twice as long and he would be exhausted. His luggage was a lot heavier then it looked and already he was tiring out.

Besides, he couldn't exactly just drop in on Vlad without letting him know he was coming, could he? He wasn't even sure if Vlad would even want him. Vlad might very well blame Danny for his mother's death and thus want him more dead then alive. Not that the young halfa could blame him. Part of him wanted himself dead as well.

Danny pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his head in his arms. He no longer even knew what he was doing. It was all so confusing, but Vlad was his only hope for having someone understand what he was going through. If Vlad rejected him now, Danny didn't know what he would do. Maybe he should just cut his loses now and kill himself. At least then he could be with his friends and family.

"Uh-hum."

Danny pictured what Sam and Tucker's faces if they were alive and knew what he was thinking. He could see the concern and the anger that they would feel, but more then that, he could see the disappointment in their faces, that he would give up on everything so easily.

"A-hem, cough."

Even Jazz's face appeared, though hers was marred with the same worried looks from when she had thought him depressed before. Then she had ensured he had been sent to see the school counselor, who, it turned out, had been a ghost bent on killing Jazz, and destroying the entire student bodies morale so that she could remain looking young. Danny snorted at the memory. It was bitterly ironic that when he was fine Jazz had been there to try to get him help, but now that he really did need help, she was gone. Along with everyone else.

He had to admit, as much as Jazz had been a pain in the butt, she had always been a really great sister. He had even considered one of his closest friends when they were younger. Danny wondered if any of this would have happened if he had only confided in her about all his secrets like he use to.

"Yo! Excuse me!"

Danny jolted up and looked at a ghost floating in front of him. He recognized it at once. It was the same ghost that Vlad had sent to fly him and his mom to a fake mother/son convention half a year before.

"What do you want?" Danny sulked.

"I have a letter for you," the ghost handed an envelope to Danny.

"For me? From who?"

The ghost shook his head in exasperation. "Who do you think? You don't know that many people who use ghost messengers, do you?"

"Actually more then you might think," Danny replied, thinking of all the ghosts he did know and how many of them probably used ghost messengers. He opened the envelope and was about to read the letter inside when he noticed the ghost still hovering in front of him with an outstretched hand.

"What?" Danny asked irritably.

"Tip," responded the ghost.

"I'm not sending you back to the ghost zone where you belong," Danny spat. "Consider _that_ your tip."

"Hmph!" The ghost said as it drifted away. Danny could hear it muttering as it left. "You half-ghosts are all alike. Think you can just walk all over the real dead. But you just watch. One of these days …."

Danny brought his attention back to the letter in hand and read it.

* * *

Dear Daniel,

I have received word of what has happened and would like you to know that you have my sincerest condolences for the sudden lose of your family and friends. I know I should have written to you earlier, but under the circumstances I thought it best if I waited.

I know that this is a hard time for you, but I would like you to consider me as a possibility if you decide you need anyone to talk to. As much as it may seem like it now, Daniel, you are not alone. You are more then welcome to come live with me here. I also know the road ahead seems daunting and will be a long and difficult one, but I would like to help you on that road. As such I am enclosing an open-ended ticket to Wisconsin should you decide you would like to take me up on my offer.

You will not have to worry about ghosts, or anything of that nature either. I completely understand if you were to decide you want to put all of that behind you and therefore I will respect whatever decision you make on the matter.

Please think about on it. You may take as much time as you wish, and if you do decide to come, merely use the ticket enclosed. I will make sure that a car will be waiting for you at the airport. In the meantime I only ask that you do not do anything foolish or rash.

Sincerely,

Vlad Masters

* * *

Danny looked in the envelope and pulled out the ticket to look at it. He really didn't need to think it over. He had already made his decision back at the house. All this did was make it that much easier to get to his final destination. With that in mind, Danny grabbed his luggage and flew off to the nearest airport. 


	4. Chapter 3

Danny looked around as he stepped off the escalator and spotted a man standing in the back with a sign held high in the air that read in large black letters "Danny Fenton." He quickly began to push his way through the crowd to get to the man.

"I'm Danny Fenton," he said with little emotion. The man, the limo driver by the looks of him, nodded and taking Danny's bags, led him to the car out front.

There had been a time in his life when Danny would have been extremely excited to be riding in a limo. He would have spent the trip checking out all of the nuances, including the private radio, the TV and DVD player, even the mini-bar. The thought of that now, without Sam and Tucker by his side to oh and ah along with him, just curled his stomach now.

A lot of things had been doing that lately. It was as if everything in life had lost its luster without his two friends to share in it. So the long ride to Vlad's mansion - and it was long at two-an-a-half hours – was spent with Danny merely looking at the black vinyl seat across from him. He didn't say a word to the driver, nor did he move. He didn't even resituate himself into a more comfortable sitting position.

Here he was, going to live with his arch-enemy. Something he had sworn he would never do. Of course he had not known at the time that it would be the only place he had left to go. He couldn't even change his mind now and go back to Valerie's house. Not after he had admitted that he was Danny Phantom. Her face, in all it's terror, flashed before his eyes. No, she would never forgive him now. If he went back, she would hunt him down like a dog.

The limo finally pulled to a complete stop and after a moment the door opened. He stepped out to see Vlad standing there, looking genuinely concerned. Without a word Vlad put his arm around Danny and lead him into the house, nodding at the driver to follow with the luggage.

Danny walked in and stopped short. His breath caught hard in his chest, threatening to choke the life from him. Vlad had changed the décor since the last time Danny had been here, back during his dad's college reunion. No longer were the Green Bay Packers a prominent part of the entry way. Instead it had all been replaced photos of Maddie, Jack and Vlad in their younger days. Where once there was a packers uniform, there was now an aged lab coat and goggles. Equipment, both broken and still in viable condition, filled the glass cases, given Danny the distinct impression of a shrine built in memory of a friendship long dead.

The bile rose in his throat as stared in awe at Vlad's mockery of his parent's memories. He quickly swallowed.

"What is all this?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Well, I thought perhaps that, under the circumstances, you would like to be surrounded by things that belonged to your parents once."

"Why would you do this?" Danny had a difficult time keeping the accusation out of his voice. Vlad put his hand on Danny's shoulder and noticing the boy flinch violently, quickly removed it.

"Daniel, my boy, I know you think I am evil and heartless, but please believe me when I say that you are not the only one in mourning. As much as I despised your father, I never wanted it to end like this."

"No," Danny retorted in disgust. "You wanted to kill him yourself so you could steal my mom and get me to be your apprentice. Now where is my room?"

Vlad hung his head and let out a loud sigh.

"This way," he replied as he walked to the other end of the hall.

* * *

The first few days passed quietly enough with nary a word spoken between the two half-ghosts. True to his word, Vlad did not bring up the subject of ghosts or of world domination. He knew that to do so would simply send the young boy running off to heavens only knew where. That was something he was simply not prepared to do.

Danny may not be his son, but he was Maddie's and somehow Vlad felt a responsibility to her to ensure that Danny had some kind of home to grow up in. No matter how bizarre that home might be. After all if Danny could spend the first fifteen years of his life under Jack Fenton's roof, well then, the next three to five years would be positively normal for the boy.

Still, it upset him to see Danny drift around like a ghost, and not in the good way either. He barely ate anything that was put in front of him and the circles under his eyes had grown so dark they might as well have been painted on with black marker.

It wasn't until the third week of Danny's stay that Vlad realized the exact extent of the lad's torment. Dinner that night was almost a non-event. Vlad sat at the head of a very long table while Danny Fenton sat next to him, but still neither spoke a word. Vlad could tell that Danny was not in the mood to talk and for the first time since he had met the young lad, he felt it best to just leave him be.

Vlad watched as Danny pushed the food around on his plate, pretending to eat. After an hour or so, the black-haired teen pushed his plate away and stood up.

"I'm tired," he said automatically. "I'm going to bed now."

"Very well," Vlad responded. "Good night and sweet dreams." He watched Danny leave the dining room. He was beginning to think that Danny was not going to be coming out of his stupor anytime soon and that worried him. He wanted Danny to talk to him, but knew that it was not going to be so easy.

Vlad sighed and, after finishing his own dinner, decided to go to work in his lab in the hopes that it would help him get his mind off his own myriad of problems, which included his growing annoyance at Jack's all too sudden demise, so that he could refocus on helping Danny instead. He had sat by and watched Danny waste away for far too long already and could not just stand by anymore. It was time for action. He just wasn't sure what that action should be.

When things in the lab didn't work out (it was his own fault for allowing himself to grow so tired with worry over Danny and missing Maddie. It had absolutely nothing to do with any possibility that he might actually miss Jack, he had told himself), he had decided to call it an early night.

He heard it on his way back to his own room. Danny's scream had echoed through the darkened hallways of the mansion. Without thinking, Vlad turned into a ghost and floated down to Danny's room. There he saw Danny in human form, yet white as a ghost and shaking uncontrollably. He didn't seem to notice Vlad as he sat on his bed with his legs curled up, rocking back and forth, his eyes staring wide at some unseen horror.

Vlad backed out of the room and, turning back to human form, rushed back into the room to see if Danny was alright.

"Daniel!" he cried out as he ran toward his ward. Reflex took over at that moment as Vlad reached out and grabbed Danny into a tight, fatherly embrace. Danny wrapped his own arms around Vlad in return and began crying uncontrollably. His heart was pounding in fear and sweat was pouring down his face, mixing with the tears and soaking Vlad's suit.

Vlad reached up a hand and gently began to stroke Danny's hair back in comfort. "Shh…" he whispered consolingly. "It's going to be alright. Everything will be alright."

"I … I … saw it…. I saw him kill them. Why? Why couldn't I save them?" Danny sputtered.

"It's not your fault Daniel. You did the best you could. More even. There was no way you could have stopped him." Danny shook himself angrily, pulling himself away and glaring at Vlad.

"That's no excuse!" he shouted. "I should have been able to stop it! It shouldn't have happened and it is my fault because _I was the one that killed them!"_ Danny clapped his hand over his mouth in fright. He hadn't meant to tell Vlad that. He was positive that if Vlad knew that he had been the one that killed his family that he'd be kicked out onto the streets. After all, Vlad loved Maddie, so how could he give shelter to her murderer?

Vlad scrutinized Danny for a long moment before he sighed before speaking.

"Daniel, my boy, how could you have possibly killed your parents when you were standing there watching them …," Vlad quickly caught himself. "Watching what had happened?"

"I don't know," Danny answered. "But it was me. I saw him … or me … or whatever! He was older, but he _was_ me."

"And did it ever occur to you that it might have been some other ghost disguised as an older version of you and that he might have been trying to mess with your mind dear boy? It wouldn't be the first time that you …" Vlad wasn't sure how to proceed. He was trying to comfort Danny, but it was so new to him and he was quickly getting tongue-tied. If he said the wrong thing he wasn't sure how Danny would react to it.

"That I've been fooled?" Danny responded.

"Well… Yes," Vlad answered. "Truthfully that is it."

Danny stared at his hands so that he didn't have to look at Vlad anymore. "I wish I could believe that," he choked. "I wish I could …."

Vlad once again wrapped his arms around Danny and simply sat there while the young man cried. "Oh Danny…" Vlad whispered in despair. It was the first time that he had ever called Danny by that nickname and it seemed to shake Danny out of his despondency. He violently pushed Vlad away, as though he had suddenly developed the plague.

"Get out!" he screamed, throwing himself full-force back onto the bed facing the door so that his back was toward Vlad.

"Danny …" Vlad reached out an arm which Danny angrily shoved away.

"Get out! And just leave me alone!"

Vlad sat for a moment before heaving a sigh and standing. He left Danny's room, glancing back to look at Danny, who simply turned himself so once again his back was facing Vlad. With that, Vlad closed the door and headed to his own room. It was a long time before he managed to fall asleep.

* * *

Danny never did get back to sleep that night. He lay awake, looking at the ceiling as all the horrible images from his dream came creeping back to the forefront of his thoughts. The nightmares had gotten progressively worse since he had last spoken to Valerie and discovered who was responsible for the deaths of his friends and family. He could now clearly see the face of the murderous and there was no doubt in his mind that it was indeed him.

Danny hated himself for it. Worse yet, he was beginning to hate his family and friends for it and that just added onto the ever growing mound of guilt and pain he was already feeling. There had to be a way to stop it all. He thought briefly about how Vlad had dealt with "losing" the love of his life so many years ago and yet he had somehow managed to survive. Even now, with Maddie dead and absolutely no hope of ever getting her, Vlad was still surviving. Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to push Vlad away. Maybe, just maybe, there was something he could learn from the cheese man after all.


	5. Chapter 4

The next morning, at breakfast, with grim determination, Danny ate more then he had in weeks, much to Vlad's relief. He polished off the eggs and sausage before him and downed the glass of orange juice, then turned to Vlad.

"I was thinking that I could help you out in the lab today if you don't mind," he remarked simply. Vlad could tell that it wasn't something that Danny was actually looking forward to with enthusiasm, but at the same time, he didn't want to miss an opportunity to reach out to Danny in his time of need.

"Very well," he replied. "I'll be going down after I finish my breakfast. You can help me test some new equipment I've been working on."

"Thanks," Danny nodded. He waited patiently for Vlad to finish, eyeing the older half-ghost's every move. Vlad had made an art out of not feeling anything even remotely close to guilt over anything and Danny was now determined to emulate it. If he could just stop feeling all of the horrid emotions that he had been faced with lately, he was positive that he might actually be able to move on with his life. His first step to that end had been to swear to himself that he would never care about another person again as long as he lived. Not hard so far since the only person he had any real contact with anymore was Vlad.

Of course, he was not about to tell that to Vlad. Somehow, he knew that Vlad would disagree with this new outlook on life that Danny was going for. He had caught Vlad a few times going to the entrance hall by himself, although Danny had not stepped foot in it since his initial arrival. Danny pushed aside the little voice in his head that was telling him that this was because Vlad was indeed feeling guilty and sad at the same time.

When they went to the lab, Danny was amazed to see the changes Vlad had made to it since he had last been in there. He cringed at the sudden memory. He had last been in the lab when he was with his family for his dad's college reunion. That was when he had first discovered that Vlad was also a half-ghost and that he was obsessed with Danny's mom. A tear started to creep into Danny's eye, but he quickly clawed his arm to rid himself of it. He was determined not to cry anymore.

Vlad started explaining the various experiments to Danny, and he noticed that as he did so, Vlad's voice became slightly more excited. It seemed that he was enjoying this time with his new 'son.'

"What are those?" Danny asked, pointing to a pair of large claw-like gloves on a work-bench. They reminded him of Wolf's claws in a strange sort of way, only more real and less ghost.

"Oh, yes," remarked Vlad with a smile. "Those are the Vlad Plasmius Ghost Gloves. I made them so that I would be able to separate ghosts from solid objects. Silly really. I created them back when …," he paused for a moment.

"Back when you were still fighting me?" Danny finished for him.

"Well, yes, actually. I told you it was silly."

"And just how did you plan on using it?" Danny's curiosity was getting the better of him.

"Well, you see. You just put them on and you can grab ghosts. If the ghost is hiding behind something solid you can reach through and pull it out, while you are corporeal. I thought it a good idea considering what happened in Colorado. I couldn't exactly risk you turning me back to human form again without some way to continue fighting you."

"I see." Danny reached out and gently stroked the gloves as thoughts began to form in his head.

"Yes, I am sorry about that. I know it must seem so petty now, but you know how it is, or um, was…"

"Can they be used to un-possess people?" Danny interrupted.

"What do you mean?"

"You said that you can reach through solid objects to pull a ghost through. Does that mean that if a ghost is possessing an object it can be pulled from that object?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. That was one of the first test I ran with it," Vlad smiled. "The ability to separate ghost matter from physical matter is one of its prime applications."

Danny picked up the gloves lovingly. Perhaps he did not need to follow Vlad's lead after all. Perhaps there was another way. An easier way.

"Can they be used to ripe away a ghost's human half?" he asked. Vlad laughed.

"Well I suppose so, but who would want to..." He stopped in mid sentence. Danny was standing completely still, his eyes wide with awe, never leaving the gloves. In an instance Vlad knew what Danny was thinking. The idea sent a shiver of cold down his spine.

"Daniel," Vlad continued, suddenly serious again. "You can't be serious. You can't just run away from your human side."

"Can't I?" he retorted bitterly. "Ghosts don't have to feel anything. They have it easy. If I'm nothing but a ghost then..."

Vlad watched, half amazed, half frightened at the look on Danny's face.

"I don't want to be human anymore!" Danny yelled as he turned toward Vlad. A fire erupted in his eyes and sneer curled his lips. "If being human means hurting all the time now, then I don't want it! Make me a ghost!"

"My boy, What you're thinking... what you're asking... Do you realize that if I do that, you can't go back?"

"I don't care," Danny spit. "Just do it!"

Vlad started to put a hand on Danny's shoulder and quickly withdrew it at the look on the boy's face. Heaving a heavy sigh he lowered his head. "Very well," he muttered. "But it will take some time to get everything ready, so it will have to wait until tomorrow."

"That's fine with me," Danny said as he stalked out of the lab. "Tomorrow is just as good as any other day."

Vlad watched the retreating figure of Danny Fenton. Had he always had that much fire and passion in his soul. If so, it definitely explained why Vlad had never quite been able to defeat him properly. Well, at least he bought himself some time. Hopefully once Danny had a good nights sleep he would realize what a foolish request he was making.

At least, Vlad hoped he would.


	6. Chapter 5

Vlad walked slowly back to the main entrance of the house. It had become a habit of his to go there whenever he was particularly worried about Danny's behavior. Which was quite frequently actually. He had not changed the décor at all, even though Danny himself never visited it. Vlad hated to admit it, but in an odd way it was a memorial shrine. Not just to Maddie, but to Jack as well. More then that though, it was a shrine to the friendship they all once shared, so long ago.

Contrary to what Danny might think Vlad had been telling the truth when he fiest showed this area to the boy. He was in mourning, and not just over Maddie either. When Vlad initially heard what had happened, he had been of two hearts and two minds. He was very upset and despondent over Maddie's passing, but he was also glad that Jack was finally gone.

Lately though it had started to really hit him. Jack was gone, and it hadn't even been by his own hand. He had been cheated out of the one thing that he had wanted more then anything else, save Maddie herself. At least that was how he had looked at it in the beginning. Then he began to slowly realize that it wasn't just that he had been cheated out of killing Jack himself, but that with Jack's death, one of the main driving forces behind his anger at the world was gone. There was no longer someone to hate and plot against.

Oh, Vlad liked to think that when it came down to it, he was still evil at heart, but he was coming to quickly realize that all the evil in him no resided in only one place and that was his ghost half. Not surprising really, since his ghost half had essentially been built around hatred and anger. When he transformed into a ghost, the rage still managed to run through his veins, but now it was mostly powered by his hatred of the world in general for a vague feeling of non-acceptance. Even that side seemed to be growing a little weaker every day though without any new hatred to feed it. Who knew, maybe one day he would be content to get a cat and live a non-violent, peaceful life.

He stopped and stared at a picture of a very young Maddie. How could he let her down so badly? Danny wasn't happy here, but Vlad knew he wouldn't be happy anywhere else either. Was it really such an insane idea that Danny had? Was it really so wrong to try to do whatever he could to be happy again? Vlad touched the glass over the face of his love. Maybe it was for the best after all.

'_Maybe,'_ he thought to himself. _'Maybe Danny would be happier as nothing more then a ghost. And who am I to deny him that one last chance at happiness?'_

"I swore to you Maddie that I would care for him to the best of my ability and I will," Vlad remarked to the picture before him. "Even if it means separating his human half from his ghost half. Besides, it isn't as if he's actually going to die. His human half will still be alive, and that is the half that will still need caring for no matter what. I just hope that wherever you are, you understand."

Vlad put his arm down and walked back out. If he was going to help Danny separate, he needed to finish getting the lab ready.

* * *

The following morning there was no breakfast, no chit-chat and no meandering around the mansion. Danny had not changed his mind with a good nights sleep. If anything, he was even more determined then ever to see this idea through to the end.

"On the table, then," Vlad spoke gently.

Danny got up on the table and laid down, ready for Vlad to strap him in. It took only a few moments for Vlad to do so. When he was finished with that, he donned a surgical mask and the ghost gloves.

"Now, I'm not going to lie to you Daniel, this is most likely going to hurt tremendously. So are you sure you want to …"

"Yes," Danny nodded stoically.

"Very well then. Let us proceed." Vlad looked down at Danny and suddenly felt as though he was looking at this boy for the very last time. A tear crept quickly into his eye and he found it hard to swallow. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he activated the gloves and brought them down into Danny's body.

It was a more difficult process then he thought it was going to be. Danny started crying out in pain as Vlad rummaged around inside, trying to get a gripe on Danny's ghost half. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he felt the gloves grab a hold of it and began to pull. Danny's human body started to pull along with it, breaking most of the straps holding it down, as though unwilling to let this part of him go, but it was useless. After a strong yank by Vlad, Danny's ghost half was pulled free and hung limply from the gloves, while his human half lay back on the table shaking uncontrollably.

Danny Phantom looked up at Vlad and pushed himself off the gloves. It took a moment for him to get his bearings, but as he looked around he saw his other half and knew that it had worked. So why then, did he still feel so lost, and alone and guilty? Why was he still in so much emotional pain?

"It didn't work," he muttered as he clutched his head. "I shouldn't be feeling anything. _I shouldn't be feeling anything at all!_"

"Daniel," Vlad replied as he set the ghost gloves down. "Did you really think it would be that easy to run away from your emotions and to stop caring about people?"

"_You did!_" Danny rounded on him. "_You stopped caring about everyone but yourself and getting what you wanted!_"

"True," nodded Vlad. "But you're forgetting that I had years of practice and that when all is said and done, I'm evil, and you … _aren't_."

Danny balled his hands into fists and turned his head away from Vlad as he continued to float in the air. Vlad was right. He was evil. Danny's eyes caught sight of the ghost gloves and he snapped. Something possessed him in that brief moment. He grabbed the gloves without thinking and lunged at Vlad. If Vlad could spend his whole life not caring about anyone then so could he. Hatred and anger burned deep inside of him as he went to pull Vlad's ghost half out. Vlad screamed. Danny could hear the blood rushing through his guardian's veins. Vlad's heart beat sped up with each searing twist of agony until finally his ghost half came free while Vlad's human body was flung back against the wall by the force where it fell to the floor unconscious.

"You're mine," Danny sneered as he pulled Vlad Plasmius into his own ghost form. If Danny had thought that separating from his human half was painful, he was wrong. This was much worse. Sheer torture in its most base form. Ripples of electricity raced through his nerves and his mind split into two. Had it hurt this bad when he first became a half-ghost? A voice deep within him answered _'No. But that wasn't worth the pain, and this is.'_

He clutched his head has it began ripping apart with fire. His vision blurred and his senses melded into a cold hard lump. He could feel something else in his mind with him. A growing evil that threatened to suffocate him. This wasn't what he had meant to happen, but try as he might he couldn't fight it. All of the could that had been Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom mixed, broke and gave way under the torrent of evil that had been Vlad, while the memories of Vlad broke and gave way to the pain and anger that was Danny, fueling the evil even more.

When his vision finally cleared he smiled. The guilt that had plagued him from the knowledge that he had somehow managed to kill his parents was gone. In fact, he was actually feeling somewhat happy that those annoying parents of his were gone. For the first time in his life, Danny felt absolutely free.


	7. Chapter 6

Danny turned to look at his human half, curled up and cowering in a corner like a helpless baby. He thought back to the Fenton Dream Catcher and frowned. He couldn't leave his human half running around. Unlike Vlad, he was smart enough to realize that it didn't matter how powerless his human side was, it might get it in its head to try to recombine with him or worse, stop him. And knowing his human half as well as he did, he knew that it was very plausible that it might succeed.

Therefore, it was best to just put it out of its misery here and now. He smiled as he leaned forward over the frightened boy. Danny could feel the blood lust well up inside him as he reached forward and placing his hand inside Danny Fenton's chest, blow his human half apart with an eco-blast to the heart.

"Rest in pieces," he smirked as he turned to Vlad. He was about to do the same to him, but stopped. Vlad had been no match for him as a half ghost, and now has a human, broken as he were, he was even less of a threat.

'_Besides,'_ Danny thought to himself. _'There are other, more important people I'd rather see right now.'_ He blasted a hole in the rook of the lab and flew high into the sky. With luck, he'd be in Amity Park by sunset.

* * *

Vlad stirred, his head feeling like a volcano had cracked it open and tried to pull his brain out. His stomach lurched as bile rose in his throat, and if pain was any indication, he was positive that his right ankle had been broken. It took only one look around his lab for everything to come pouring back to him. He started to call out Danny's name when his eyes caught sight of the most horrifying thing Vlad had ever seen. There, lying crumpled and bloody on the floor, was all that was left of Danny Fenton. A large hole burned through the center of his chest and his eyes, bulging from their sockets in horror.

"Dear lord," he whispered to the empty lab. "What have I done?"

For the first time in his life Vlad was absolutely terrified. He sank back against the wall unable to move for the longest time.

* * *

Valerie was busy putting up yet another flyer with Danny Fenton's likeness on it. It had been close to a month and she was still worried. He just hadn't been right the night he left, and she couldn't just leave him out in the cold alone.

The streetlamp that she was currently tacking the flyer up on came on with the other streetlamps along the sidewalk. It was getting late and she'd have to head home soon, but not before she finished posting a few more up.

"Valerie?" a voice came from some dark shadows near some bushes, stopping Valerie in her tracks. She knew that voice. She would have known it anywhere.

"Danny?" she asked, nervously.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Danny! I'm so glad you're back" Valerie ran and flung herself at him, giving him a great big hug. When Danny didn't return the hug, she backed away, back into the light where she could see the outline of Danny's form. Something was different. There was a coldness about him, but Valerie figured that was to be expected considering all he had been through.

"Danny, I've been wanting to talk to you. I know you didn't kill your parents and now that you're back we can prove it. You just have to show everyone what you showed me. That Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom are one in the same!"

"But I can't do that Valerie," he said in a slightly pitying tone.

"What do you mean you can't do that?" she asked, involuntarily taking another step back.

"I can't do that," he replied. "Because I did kill them. I told you that already. Don't you ever listen?"

"Danny, what's gotten into you?" Valerie started to reach forward to him but stopped. Something was holding her back. She tried to move slightly in hopes that she might make out the expression on his face, which was still encased in shadow.

"Actually, Valerie, the question should be, what's been taken out of me." Danny stepped out of the shadows. Valerie gasped in shock. He looked the same as he had when she last saw him as a ghost, fleeing his own home, save that now his skin glowed an eerie green and he was happy. He was making her extremely nervous.

"Listen Danny, I don't know what happened while you were away but the Danny Fenton I know wouldn't have killed his parents!"

Danny's grin became larger as he began to walk around to Valerie's side. "Now see, that's you're problem. And one of the reasons I came back here." Danny adopted a mock look of pain and sorrow. "You see, poor Danny Fenton is dead. I killed him. Just like I killed his parents. Or will kill his parents. I'm not quite sure how that's going to work, but trust me, it will. The point is though, that Danny Fenton doesn't exist anymore." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Pity really, but couldn't be helped. I couldn't exactly have had him running around trying to merge up with me again," the ghost laughed. "Anyway, I thought it only proper that I be the one that told you. Seeing as I'm also going to be killing you and the rest of these pansies in Amity Park."

Valerie backed away from the ghost that had at various times been her worst enemy and her best friend, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Danny," she pleaded, but he cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I told you Valerie. Danny's dead. You can call me Daniel. Or better yet, Dan. Yeah, I like Dan a lot better. Dan Phantom. It has such a nice ominous tone to it, don't ya think?" He leaned in and smiled widely at her, showing a set of fangs that he had not previously had.

"Now," he continued as she shook in fear. "This is the part where you _run_." Valerie dropped the flyers she had been carrying and did just that. She broke into the most panicked run in her young life.

Dan Phantom watched her as she fled into the night. He picked up one of the flyers she had dropped and looked at his former human visage as it stared, smiling, back at him.

"Yes, Valerie. Run while you can. Because tomorrow, I start hunting _you_." he remarked, as his vicious laugh echoed through the darkened streets.

Fin.


End file.
